Naked wedding cake tips

I have been asked to make a 4 tier naked wedding cake and after hours of trolling through the internet I have not really managed to find very much info, just loads of lovely pics and forums about how quickly they dry out.
Has anyone on here made one? Each tier seems to be made up of three layers sandwiched together. Do these layers need to be baked individually (much more work) rather than slicing through one deep sponge in to three layers (thought this might help prevent drying out)?

Do I sandwich with buttercream or something like mascapone cream and if so can this still be done the day before?

10 Replies

I would maybe try brushing a sugar syrup on each sponge layer to keep the cake moist? A cream cheese filling or maybe a chocolate mouse filling might be better than buttercream as buttercream can dry out quicker?

I live in sweden and when we need to moist your cake layers here we use like milk and vanilla sugar (whipped together) to brush on each leyer.

But if you bake the your self you would not need to make it moist. You can use whipped cream fillings that contain agar agar or gelatine (to make it stable). And i would never bake one layer at the time, I always bake my sponge cake high and cut out my layers.

If you are afraid it will dry, use fresh/thawed berries or so in the filling but let the thawed dry out some on a paper towel. And let the berries rest between two thin layers of filling.

When I cover a cake before the sugarpaste or what ever, i use a buttercrem with added berries (like 1/2 cupraspberries in a normal recipie)

While I have never made a naked cake for a customer my first thoughts go to the gorgeousness of the Neapolitan stacked cake by Rosie at Sweetapolita – this is her image from her website sweetapolita.com

While I’m not saying make a Neapolitan cake but this look is pretty… I would create it by stacking with a gap between the filing layers, then cling wrapping securely and storing until the day (perhaps make the day before?) then on the day I would pipe a pretty beading in the layer gaps. Does that make sense?

I would bake, trim and torte like regular then sandwich and top with SMBC.

Anyway, good luck and I hope you discover a method that works for you :)

I’ve had the same brief. I think I read in a book about sugar syrup to keep cupcakes moist. You can flavour that too. Mine is in June so I need a filling that is going to withstand the potential heat and not melt leaving the cake in a soggy mess.

When I apprenticed in the bakery, we made a ‘whip cream bomb". It was layers of chocolate cake, layered with strawberries, bananas and whip cream. We would stack it the same way one would do the ’naked wedding cake’.
We used a strip of plastic film, (not sure if it was actually plastic) but we would wrap that around the sides of the cake)

In response to your questions: We would just cut the layers in half, not bake individual cakes. If you are afraid of it drying out, I would brush the sides with a small amount of simple syrup. I would be very careful to not make the outsides of the cake soggy.
In order to insure the cake not dry out, you might be able to wrap the sides carefully (as not to mess up any fillings) with wax paper until you set up the cakes.

Reading this with great interest. I’ve been asked to do a Naked cake. I’ve had a trial already (on my cakes page). I baked the layers individually, but note you think to bake and cut layers which sounds better and will help the cake to sit more evenly. I’m planning to cling film the layers and pipe and set up at the venue to avoid dry out. And I’ll add the decorations at the venue too. Have to say although these cakes are interesting I think they are a fad and Brides will soon realise an iced cake is better value for money.

This is what my finished cake looked like. I baked 9 individual sponges in the end. I brushed the edges and soaked the sponges with syrup as suggested by Sandra. I prepared the cake minus the fruit and flowers the day before but only put the base and second tier together as I was a little unsure of it’s ability to travel without the fondant holding it all together. It took me around another 3/4 hour at the venue to finish the job properly.